Really Good Things appointed on internal comms brief
Really Good Things wins competitive tender with Saint Francis Hospice to transform internal communications in the hospice’s 40th year.
Saint Francis Hospice in Essex has appointed Really Good Things to undertake an internal communications review, in the same year the hospice celebrates 40 years of caring for local communities.
The hospice, one of the largest adult hospices in the country, has a large staff and volunteer team of over 1,000, based across its hospice site, community settings, and the charity’s 15 retail shops.
The challenge the hospice set was to find a way to engage the large numbers of staff and volunteers who don’t have a desk-based role, and to ensure that everyone across the organisation felt they were being communicated with in a way that best met their individual needs. The hospice had already conducted research that showed pride in their teams was at an all time high.
Jules Knowler, Head of Marketing and Communications said: ‘We undertook a competitive tender for this internal communications review, and we wanted to work with a communications partner that really understood the not for profit sector. We decided to appoint Really Good Things because of their specialist knowledge, experience of the team, and the past projects they’ve completed.
We worked with Really Good Things across the first half of this year and have found the communication to be great. Around halfway through the project we decided to reframe the objective and they were open and flexible to pivot where necessary. We are very happy with the final result.”
Really Good Things Director, Sarah Klaveness, describes the approach taken for this work, combining insights, strategy, and communications.
It’s been an absolute delight to work with Saint Francis Hospice this year, and we wanted to ensure that we provided the team with a clear and actionable plan that would have a big impact on their future work.
With amplifying voices being key to the hospice’s engagement strategy, we discussed with the team about how crucial it is that everyone feels they have plenty of opportunities to give their thoughts and feedback. There is also a new organisational strategy on the horizon, a need to continually recruit committed volunteers from diverse backgrounds, and the hospice has a broad geographical remit – these factors all needed to be taken into account in setting the direction for internal communications.
To get to grips with current perceptions, we began by talking to teams across the organisation and conducted a survey to gain further insights from both staff and volunteers. We then developed a refined internal communications strategy with some quick wins to increase engagement, a newly developed messaging framework, and some longer-term aims to launch new marketing channels and staff engagement initiatives.
To provide a further level of robust sector insights, we also conducted sector-wide research to provide data, recommendations, and evidence of best practice that Saint Francis Hospice could use to amplify reach in their landmark 40th birthday year, and far beyond.